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More Algerian doctors and teachers join pay strikes

Algerian doctors are expanding a pay strike and teachers are resuming one, representatives said on Tuesday, putting pressure on President …..

 

Medical students and specialist doctors in several hospitals on Tuesday joined a strike by family doctors that has already been weakening health care in Algiers and other major cities for the last four months.

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ย Protests over economic grievances are frequent in the OPEC member, but this yearโ€™s walkout is the largest since riots in 2011 that followed uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere in the region.

The protests come at a time of political uncertainty โ€” Bouteflika, 81, has barely appeared in public since suffering a stroke in 2013.

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โ€œOur colleagues the students and our colleagues the specialists have decided to show support by joining the strike,โ€ Mohamed Toualeb, a spokesman for the strikers, told Reuters, without giving numbers.

โ€œThe government is unable to address our demands,โ€ he said. โ€œSo we are calling on Bouteflika to find a solution to our problems.โ€

Teachers plan to launch new a strike on April 9, a labor union said, in disappointment that government promises after an earlier protest had not led to any concrete action.

FILE PHOTO: Algerian doctors, who are completing their residency stage of their studies, hold a sit-in protest in Algiers February 12, 2018. REUTERS/Ramzi Boudina/File Photo

โ€œWe will go for a strike of two days per week,โ€ the teacherโ€™s union said a statement.โ€

Several weeks ago Bouteflika, in office since 1999, defused a three-month teachersโ€™ strike that had shut down hundreds of schools by promising to find a solution.

FILE PHOTO: Algerian doctors, who are completing their residency stage of their studies, hold a sit-in protest in Algiers, Algeria February 12, 2018. REUTERS/Ramzi Boudina/File Photo

In 2011, the government took the sting out of protests by raising social spending – but this time, money is much shorter as energy revenues, which make up 60 percent of state income, have halved since 2014 due to low prices.

A well-known religious leader asked by the government to mediate has had no success.

ย Bouteflika could intervene again,ย but this would make look Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia weak, raising the likelihood of a cabinet reshuffle, observers say.

โ€œOngoing strikes are evidence that the government has not found the formula to defuse social timebombs,โ€ said political analyst Farid Ferrari.

A list of potential new ministers has already been circulated on social media and a private TV channel, but officials were not available to comment on it.

 

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